Video continues to grow in popularity as a provocative way to share information online. When it comes to promoting and selling products or services, a video — or a series of them — can help spell out details, imbuing them with cinematic dimension.

Defining and describing a product or service is a common rationale for using video. Literally, the nuts-and-bolts mechanics of an object can be elegantly represented in a video.

E-commerce websites are especially suited to make use of the benefits that videos afford.

Beyond demonstrating functionality, video can help visitors visualize character of a brand and imbue an appropriate mood. Nest’s videos seek to convey the idea of a modern, comfortable home. Apple’s videos famously promote the simple elegance of their products. The videos for Harvest and Pencil show professional people hard at work in pleasant environments.

Every video will help to evoke a tone, crafted to align with the company and their identity or image. When used as part of an expression-making toolkit, video provides another opportunity of discovery, adjacent to other complementary ways of displaying information and visualizing a narrative voice. Videography is a companion method of communication to copywriting, photography, and illustration. What differentiates videography is the potential for moving image and sound to galvanize positive impressions. Every bit of this counts in compelling an eCommerce site’s visitor to consider any and all actions of transaction: signing up, advertising, sponsoring, subscribing, completing checkout. It all counts toward the site’s purpose, the sale.